The Last Guardian's Development 'Completely Unexpected'

By Jasmine Henry 01 June 2016

The Last Guardian’s creator Fumito Ueda reveals the game’s long development was “completely unexpected,” and talks about his disappointment by the decision to switch to PS4.

Initially announced in 2007, PlayStation exclusive The Last Guardian isn’t set to release until this year. Not only has the game’s trademark been abandoned not once but twice during the course of its development, but Sony has also had to repeatedly confirm that the game has not actually been cancelled, despite rumors to the contrary. And although many PlayStation fans were ecstatic when the game reappeared at last year’s E3 (with a brand new trailer to boot), by the time gamers can actually get their hands on it, the Trico-starring title will be right up there with other games that have survived development hell such as Team Fortress 2 and Diablo 3.

In a new interview with IGN, The Last Guardian’s creator, Fumito Ueda, reveals that “the fact that it took a long time to develop was completely unexpected.” Ueda also explains that “we thought that Ico and Shadow of the Colossus took a long time to develop so one of the missions of The Last Guardian was that we wanted to create something good in a short period of time.” The creator also reveals that “it would be nice to talk about all the struggles we’ve been through but there’s a lot of things that we can’t say yet.”

Moreover, Ueda says that “when it was decided that the game would be transitioned to PS4 it was difficult for me to accept” and that “when the decision was first made I had some difficulty and I felt a little disappointed because I wanted to release this game earlier.” However, Ueda also notes that “the PS3 market has become smaller at this point and now I think the PS4 market is the main market so I am happy to have this title as a PS4 exclusive title.”

Development difficulties aside, The Last Guardian now seems to be on track with Ueda recently revealing that Trico has plenty of powers, which can be used alongside the player character’s own abilities. For example, players can use mirror shield to create a beam of light, and then Trico will fire lightning from its tail, destroying the object and allowing them to get past the game’s environmental puzzles. Moreover, it has been revealed that the relationship between Trico and the player character will form over the course of the game and that Trico may not always do what players asks of it.

As The Last Guardian gears up for its 2016 release date on PS4, players can next expect to see the game at this year’s E3, which is just a few short weeks away. While Sony’s E3 2016 press conference will likely be jam-packed with other heavy-hitting announcements such as the rumored reveal of the PS4.5, with The Last Guardian being one of the most highly anticipated PS4 games of the year, it’s hard to imagine that the company won’t find time to reveal a few more details about the upcoming title as well.

The Last Guardian will be available by the end of 2016, exclusively for PlayStation 4.